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Muscarinic responses were studied in dissociated guinea-pig celiac ganglion neurons using the whole-cell voltage-clamp technique. Muscarine (0.025-1 mM; EC50 = 95 microM) administered to cells for 1.5 s evoked inward shifts in holding current in 53 of 74 cells. The amplitude of the inward current transients decreased with hyperpolarization and the null potential averaged -71 +/- 3.4 mV (n = 11). The currents that underlie the responses to muscarine were examined with hyperpolarizing voltage stepping protocols to -100 mV from a holding potential of -30 mV. Eighty-one per cent of cells displayed voltage-dependent current relaxations characteristic of the M-potassium current. Twenty per cent of responding cells displayed no M-current but only a voltage-independent current consistent with a leak current. In the latter type of cells, the muscarine-evoked inward currents reversed near EK and became outward at more hyperpolarized potentials. Analysis of steady state I-V relationships before and after bath application of muscarine showed that the two muscarine-sensitive potassium currents were distributed differently among three types of cells: (i) with M-current (18%); (ii) with leak current (18%); and (iii) with M-current and with leak current (64%). Cesium and barium were used to differentiate the M-current and the muscarine-sensitive leak current. Barium (2 mM) reduced the M-current and the leak potassium current, whereas cesium (2 mM) reduced the M-current but did not affect leak current. Thus, barium reduced the amplitude of muscarinic responses by 79% but cesium reduced them by only 14%. We conclude that muscarinic responses in guinea-pig celiac neurons are produced by suppression of two K+ currents: the M-current and a muscarine-sensitive leak current. These two currents are differentially susceptible to the potassium channel blockers barium and cesium.

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Sympathetic spontaneous activity in peripheral nerves of limbs and activity of C-fibres of the cervical sympathetic nerve trunk (CSNT) were recorded in situ from anaesthetized rabbits using multichannel coherent recording technique. Spectral characteristics of the activity and correlation between nerve activity and blood pressure were estimated. The data obtained have suggested that C-fibres in the CSNT are mainly vasoconstrictor fibres and their activity is more baroreceptor-dependent than that of sympathetic fibres in peripheral nerves. It is found that latencies of changes in the arterial blood pressure in response to changes in sympathetic activity are between 4 and 10 s.

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Spontaneous sympathetic activity was recorded in single fibres dissected from the cervical sympathetic nerve trunk (CSNT) of rabbit. Conduction velocities and action potential amplitudes for B-fibres were measured in the whole nerve trunk. Results of the spectral analysis suggested that activity of unmyelinated fibres depended on baroreceptor activity to a greater extent than that of myelinated fibres and that the 2-3 Hz rhythm was present in animals with intact baroreceptors simultaneously with the cardiac rhythm. That rhythm was a usual feature of activity of both B- and C-fibres. Cross-correlation analysis of the single fibre activity was estimated in 24 fibre pairs. It was found that in five fibre pairs there was a correlation associated with the presence of a common physiological rhythm, in one fibre pair there was a correlation derived from the existence of a strong common input to both distinct preganglionic neurons.

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The mechanism of the pachycarpine action was studied in isolated superior cervical ganglion of rat using the patch-clamp method in the whole-cell recording mode. Action of the pachycarpine is not potential-dependent in the membrane potential range from +30 to -50 mV, the blockade increases during hyperpolarization of the membrane (-50-90 mV). Changes in the "dose-effect" dependence show that the blocking of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors is competitive both within the potential-dependent interval and within the potential-independent one.

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Spontaneous electrical activity correlated to cardiac rhythm has been recorded with electrodes placed on the surface of the human arm or using the rabbit hindlimb. The signal-to-noise ratio has been improved using record averaging synchronized with the ECG. The recorded activity in man is a slow negative wave of sinusoid-like shape with a mean peak amplitude 0.08 +/- 0.03 microV. The sympathetic origin of this activity is suggested by the facts that its time course and conduction velocity are similar to those of integrated spontaneous electrical activity, recorded directly from postganglionic sympathetic fibers in the rabbit, and that it can be recorded from skin surface as a response to direct electrical stimulation of sympathetic nerve in the same animal.

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Spontaneous sympathetic activity of tibial and peroneal nerves was investigated in anaesthetized rabbits using the multichannel coherent recording technique. The tonic activity of these fibres is shown to be mainly irregular. Sometimes it correlates with the cardiac rhythm. No modulation with 10 c/s frequency described by other researchers and no respiratory modulation are observed. At constant arterial pressure the amplitude of irregular changes in the nerve activity exceeded several times the average level of the activity.

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Spontaneous electrical activity was recorded with a six channel amplifier from the intact vagal nerve (cervical area) of the cat in acute experiments. The records obtained were summated using different delays between them induced by a computer for differentiation of the afferent activity from the efferent one and estimation of the proper conduction velocity. It is found that the most active afferent fibres have conduction velocity about 25 m/s.

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